Dec. 16

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/opinion/sunday/dowd-a-lost-civilization.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0 One of my favorite lines in this piece is right at the very end. "But history will no doubt record that withering Republicans were finally wiped from the earth in 2016 when the relentless (and rested) Conquistadora Hillary marched in, General Bill on a horse behind her, and finished them off." It's very amusing the way that MAUREEN DOWD relates the fall of ancient civilizations to the GOP. Not subtle in the least but still funny. And the imagery with "Someday, it will be the subject of a National Geographic special, or a Mel Gibson movie, where archaeologists piece together who the lost tribe was, where it came from, and what happened to it." is hilarious. You can imagine people sitting in their hover chairs watching this on floating screens with wonder of these people. Details such as the opening, with the daughter describing eating corn like the Aztecs, really ties the whole piece together.

Dec. 9

1970 Also. Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another. In the book A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, the main character has a necklace in the shape of a crescent eye that was given to her by her mother. In the opening chapters of the book, she and several other girls use the necklace to slice open their thumbs and become blood sisters. They didn't know that the crescent eye was a symbol of an ancient order and that they were mimicking the formation centuries later. The eye is also used as a key in later books, opening doors to other realms, as well as sealing them. The fact that the necklace was sort of like a key when it came to locking the girls together as blood sisters as well as locking the door to the realm was a very clever idea.

Analysis of Death of a Salesman

First and foremost, Willy Loman is an ass. He's been an ass the entire play, and no matter how many interviews and analysis of the book we read, he will always be an ass. The plot is there is a salesman (Willy) who is an ass and takes advantage of everyone around him, insulting them and belittling them and making their lives miserable. He cheats on his wife Linda, insults his only friend Charley, and hates his sons. He is a lying little turd who wants to get the rewards of life without doing the hard work, and when his dreams collapses he lies to himself about it. His mind is failing, and he relives past events, especially concerning his douche bag brother Ben. Willy encourages his sons to do bad things and then makes excuses for them when they fail. His dream for his family is corrupt and harmful, to himself and his family. The one redeeming act that Willy performs from the entire play is to kill himself, which gives his family 20,000 dollars. He could have saved his family the pain though by taking the job that Charley offered him. Willy Loman had far to much pride and it was eventually his undoing.

Review 12/2

For the past couple of weeks we've been talking and talking and talking about Death of a Salesman, and I am so happy that we've moved on to Hamlet! Reading Shakespearean literature is refreshing after the american plays. Willy was an ass, and so is Hamlet, but they're asses in different ways and this in itself is enjoyable, as is reading with the class. I find that I really understand the concepts better when they're being read. And the tone word exersizes are very fun. I love the candy :)